Posted on 06/23/2009 8:08:19 AM PDT by BGHater
Five-to-40-year-olds and Canada's aboriginal communities should be the first to get vaccinated against human swine flu, experts say as Canadian officials decide who gets priority for the flu shots.
Under Canada's official pandemic plan, the entire population would ultimately be immunized against the H1N1 swine flu.
But the vaccine will become available in batches, meaning the entire population can't be vaccinated at once. It might take four or five months to get all the vaccine we're going to get, during which time a second wave of swine flu may well be underway.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is working on a priority list, deciding where the first batches should go, and who should get the injections first. All provinces and territories would be expected to follow the national prioritization scheme.
Unlike normal seasonal flu, the H1N1 virus appears to be disproportionately infecting older children and young adults. So far the largest number of confirmed cases have occurred in people between the ages of five and 24.
"It doesn't mean they're all getting sick and need to be hospitalized, but they're getting significant illness," said Dr. Noni MacDonald, a leader in pediatric infectious diseases and a professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
British researchers reported last week that targeting children first would protect not only them, but also unvaccinated adults.
"Even if you are concerned about the elderly, who are often mentioned as another risk group, their main connection to the big pool of infection is often their grandchildren," said Dr. Thomas House of the University of Warwick.
But adults older than 64 don't appear to be at increased risk of H1N1-related complications so far in the outbreak. It's possible they have some antibodies against the virus.
As well, children "are known to be really important for transmitting flu," said Earl Brown, executive director of the Emerging Pathogens Research Centre at the University of Ottawa.
"They're important for the cycle of infection. They tend to be naive as far as not having flu antibodies in their system before. And really young kids, their immune systems aren't fully mature.
"Children tend to be hit, and they can be hit harder," Brown said. By immunizing children first, "you get to try to block spread, and protect a vulnerable group."
Gymnasiums would be used for mass school-based vaccination programs but experts say the harder to reach group will be the 18-to-30-year-olds.
"Some of them are in school, a lot of them are not," MacDonald said. "They're very much living in the moment and don't necessarily see themselves as being at risk. We need some fast thinking about how to reach those people."
She suggested booths could be set up outside bars for information and immunization.
"You've got to be creative about this and really think out of the box."
Canada's aboriginal communities also appear to be getting more serious infections. Crowded, poorly ventilated housing and poor access to high-quality running water and sanitization are some of the factors being blamed. Aboriginals also have higher rates of asthma, chronic lung disease, obesity and diabetes — the very diseases early data suggests puts people at higher risk of life-threatening complications from swine flu.
The H1N1 vaccine will be a separate vaccine from the regular, annual flu shot. People will require two jabs, and possibly three, depending on how effective the vaccine is in producing immunity. The Public Health Agency of Canada says that no decisions have yet been made about who would get priority first.
One of the challenges will be getting people to agree to the shots. There will be limited information about any vaccine's safety before immunization campaigns are rolled out across the country.
"We usually do research in healthy adults before we do it in children, because this is a new vaccine, and you want to be sure that it's safe and effective before you give it to vulnerable populations, or populations who don't have full capacity to make an informed decision about getting it or not," said Dr. Joanne Langley, of Health Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
"There are pros and cons to putting (children) first."
Babies under six months of age are not vaccinated against flu.
Vaccinating the group that needs it most first?
Isn’t that racist?
Something like 150 killed worldwide. I suspect millions have already had it and recovered just fine without seeing a doc. I had symptoms that sure sounded like what they described starting just a few days before the panic. After about 10 days I was fine.
No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/48007842.html
Who would think that a normally healthy woman would die so swiftly from influenza in June?
Could you ever have imagined such a thing? No wonder her family and friends are in shock.
So why did it happen?
Originally Posted by www.todaystmj4.com
Barbara Davis, 48, was healthy just a week ago. She had dinner with her mother Josephine last Friday night. But just hours after that dinner, Josephine got a phone call.
“My friend, he called me and told me Barbara was real sick. And I said, “Well, she wasn’t sick when I left, so what’s the matter?” Josephine Davis said.
Barbara told her mother that she was ok. But the next day, things got worse. She had trouble breathing, and she was shaking. She could barely walk into the hospital.
“She tried to talk to people, but she just couldn’t talk,” Josephine Davis said.
Doctors treated her for two days, but they couldn’t save her. They believe she died from swine flu.
“They’ve never seen nothing like that, what she had. That infection just went through her body, attacking her kidney, her lungs, her liver. Everything,” said Josephine Davis.
The Milwaukee Health Department confirmed on Friday a Milwaukee adult with no underlying medical conditions died from swine flu, though they haven’t confirmed Barbara Davis was that victim.
Barbara’s family knows all too well how serious swine flu can be.
“Everybody is just in a shock. The people that I talked to today, they are frightened. Because it happened all of a sudden,” Josephine Davis said.
More than 1,800 people have caught swine flu in Milwaukee alone. The city’s Health Department is stressing that if you are mildly ill with flu symptoms, you should call your doctor. If your symptoms are serious or if you have mild symptoms that are getting worse, you should see a doctor right away.
http://www.wisn.com/health/19751526/detail.html
Originally Posted by www.wisn.com
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner said 48-year-old Barbara Davis died Thursday in the ICU after being diagnosed with the flu strain.
The health department said, unlike Milwaukee’s first swine flu victim, Davis did not have any “underlying medical conditions” that would have put her at a greater risk for the disease.
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...04&postcount=7
This post was written by Dr. Gratten Woodsen, MD commenting over at flutrackers on this unfortunate woman’s case.
Originally Posted by www.flutrackers.com
The decedent is described as having fulminate multi-organ failure that developed rapidly resulting in death 48 hours after onset and despite intensive medical therapy in an ICU including all the bells and whistles.
The attending physicians told the mother that they had never seen anything like this before and I believe them. So did she. No one has seen anything like this since 1918. In 1918 many doctors said the say thing after dealing with their first cases of Spanish Flu and for them too it was a great surprise at least until those that didn’t die from the virus themselves had seen it so many times that it was no longer unique.
There are numerous descriptions from the 1918 pandemic that match the one above but no where else in medical history do we find anything remotely similar. This is why the doctors in Milwaukee were so shocked by what they saw.
How many other North American victims had similar pathology? Why have the autopsy and clinical findings from the deaths in Mexico, the US and Canada been suppressed?
I know from press reports that there have been other US deaths where multi-organ failure was present.
Old White people should die.
803 hospitalizations in New York from swine flu according to the article link .
7 More Swine Flu Deaths Reported, NYC Total at 30
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/7-More-Swine-Flu-Deaths-Reported-NYC-Total-at-30.html
Seven more deaths in New York City have been linked to swine flu, bringing the total to 30.
The Health Department did not make a formal announcement but quietly updated the numbers on its Web site Friday.
The city has refused to release details about swine flu deaths,and would only say that victims ranged in age from 25 to 64.
The number of confirmed New York City cases also rose to 1,083, with 803 hospitalizations. Officials believe many more have had swine flu because the city does not test everyone who has mild symptoms.
Buffalo, NY:
Mother Speaks about Swine Flu Death
Posted By: Rachel Kingston Posted By: Claudine Ewing 1 min ago
http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=67886&catid=13
When Matthew Davis was feeling ill at home just days before died, he asked his mom, ‘what is wrong with me, am I going to die,” recalled Lucretia Belton.
Belton is the mother of Davis. The 15-year old boy was scheduled to graduate from eighth grade at Harvey Austin School #97 in Buffalo on Wednesday. Instead the family will be attending his wake at Amigone Funeral Home in Buffalo.
Davis, according to his mother was healthy. “There was nothing wrong with my baby, no cold, not even a sniff,” said Belton.
In an interview with 2 On Your Side’s Claudine Ewing, the grieving mother explained how fast her son became ill. It was one week from the day Matthew started feeling that he died.
Students, teachers and community members are mourning the teen’s death.
Flags there are at half staff and a sign in front of the school says — “Our hearts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of Matthew Davis.”
Over the weekend, a spokesman for the Erie County Health Department confirmed a death associated with swine flu.
Buffalo Teachers’ Federation President Phil Rumore said it’s his understanding that the 15-year-old’s health was further compromised by an underlying MRSA infection.
Belton says doctors told her as a result of the swine flu her son contracted MRSA and pneumonia.
“I’m not coping. I want my baby. can they give me my baby back. I’m a mess,” said Belton about the death of her son.
She wishes the school was closed when the teacher was diagnosed with swine flu. It is not known how Matthew Davis was infected. She has an older son who attends Riverside High School, but he was never ill, although district officials closed that school to deal with the swine flu in the building.
Buffalo Schools Superintendent Dr. James Williams says grief counselors are on hand today.
Only a small number of students are required to report to school to take final exams.
A second Buffalo student - who attends the Charles R. Drew Science Magnet School #59 Museum Campus, remains hospitalized with Swine Flu. The child, a female, is listed in critical condition in the Pediatric Intensive Care unit at Women and Children’s Hospital.
Still not concerned about what appears to be a minor flu that seems to kill less than other common flus.
Canadian update: 747 new cases since Friday, with 55 new hospitalizations. 2 deaths are noted since Friday, for a total of 15, and then the 6 year-old today for 16 deaths. Total 6457 cases.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/swine-porcine/surveillance-eng.php
The second wave in the fall of 1919 was when they started dropping like flies.
The comment below was posted by a nurse under the Comments section of the story
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6815361
Loosing a loved one to the H1N1(Pneumonia)combination is sad statistic. No one ever wants to be included in that growing group.
I work in a very busy urgent care that has seen our “flu-like” symptoms sky rockets in the last two months.
if you have a Fever of 101.0 or higher and can not get it down with Advil or Tylenol (gen ok) and a sudden Sore Throat, Cough, Body Aches some times even diarrhea and vomiting. GO TO THE DOCTORS
These are Classic symptoms of the FLU get checked, Wash your hands often, Cover Your Coughs, Stay Away from Others.
How do they test. First they will want to make sure its not Strep, throat swab. Second a nasal swab to be sent to the lab. Some clinics have rapids results some don’t but all ER’s will.
The “Normal Flu season” is Mid Feb to end March this is out of control clear in to JUNE.
Post your panic to somebody who actually wants to hear it.
Ready, fire, aim. Y'all MISSED the point. In that it is an "official" making the health care decision, not the individual's physician or the individual. If old people want to buy it, well they can't. Like one poster said RAID for old folks. They can run but they can't hide. I see y'all have drunk the Obama koolaid already buying in to letting the government decide who gets what care.
When you know someone who died of the swine flu try and tell the grieving family it’s no big deal ...
I would be honored not to post to you anymore :))
This teacher disagree that this is just like the regular flu .
crzdchmra, thank you for your kindness towards me while I shamefully showed you none. My experience as a teacher is exactly what tells me this is different this year; it’s not the typical sniffle that seems to never end during a two and a half hour exam...this is swine flu, multiple cases, all sitting in a room together coughing, sneezing etc. Two students passed out last week when the weather wasn’t hot yet...they turned white and asked to go to the nurse during exams...they didn’t make it there before they ended up on the floor. The schools with massive cases should have eliminated exams (not hs regents of course) and assigned an independant project instead that could be dropped off to be graded. During regular flu season schools with low attendance close for a day or two...this shouldn’t have been different. I am so sad for this boy’s family...a wake instead of a graduation...it didn’t have to happen like that.
As was posted under the comments section of the article
Mother Speaks about Swine Flu Death
Posted By: Rachel Kingston Posted By: Claudine Ewing 1 min ago
http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=67886&catid=13
Really? Our children had it, and they were the sickest they’ve ever been. Son’s coach had it, and that man was SICK for two weeks. (that’s how our oldest son got it and spread it to the rest of us.) We had it before it was popular with the press and CDC.
My Missus and her son had it as well, pretty brutal but they recovered, it turned into bronchitis for her. Lasted about the same - 7 to 10 days or so. Didn’t affect me at all, but then I eat a lot of hot sauce and balkan yogurt.
As a physician who has seen a lifetime of suffering, I have this advice: GET YOUR FLU SHOT THIS FALL!
Whatever sickness you may have had...nothing, and I mean NOTHING can prepare you for a killer flu save a flu shot.
I’m as conservative as you and I’m NOT kidding...
Ping
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